Rugby: Earning a pay cheque from the sideline

Carl Hayman. Photo / Getty Images

Carl Hayman, ex-cornerstone of the All Black scrum, widely hailed as the world's best tighthead prop, who passed up the opportunity of a tilt at the World Cup to anchor a cash-rich French club pack, is warming the reserve bench at Toulon.

The bloke wearing the No 3 jersey ahead of him is a Georgian seven years his junior - who isn't even first choice for Georgia.

To add insult to insult, hot-headed Toulon president Mourad Boudjellal is so unhappy with the situation that he is threatening to start putting up payslips in the changing room and has made dark warnings about a clearout at the end of the season.

"Sometimes," says Boudjellal in reference to Hayman, "I get the feeling that I've bought a player's past, not his future."

It's a moot point whether Hayman really is the world's best tighthead. But never mind who bestowed the "world's best" title and the fact that Hayman didn't ask for it. He didn't argue with the price tag that accompanied it and now he is taking flak for not
living up to expectations.

Even if Boudjellal carried through on his threat to wallpaper Toulon's changing shed with the salary of Opunake's favourite son, the convoluted structure of top dollar contracts and tax dodges in France means we still wouldn't know the real figures. The most widely quoted figure is 620,000 ($1.13 million) a year .

What we do know is that, in an era where the perception of being a star makes a player worth multiples of their less feted competitors, Hayman is - or was - unquestionably the star of the tighthead props.

This season, he has shared the load with Davit Kubriashvili at Toulon, starting 14 games and coming on for 12, while the Georgian has started 17 and come on for 11. Initially this looked like rotation, allowing him to settle before the knockout stages.

But we are now into the business end of the European season and, when the European Cup quarter-finals rolled round (Toulon's most important game to date), an uninjured Hayman was watching from
the stands.

True, the European Cup restricts the number of non-EU passport holders on the team sheet and, to be fair, Kubriashvili is an excellent scrummager - which counts for a hell of a lot in the French game - but he's not on anyone's short list for "world's best tight head".

Toulon had a vital home game against Perpignan last weekend that they had to win to keep their chances of qualifying for Europe and the playoffs alive. Again, Hayman was slated to be on the bench. An infected blister prevented him from participating at all.

Perry Freshwater, the New Zealand loosehead capped 10 times for England who has played at Perpignan since 2003, says: "There is a transition period. The French style is different, the referees are different but, as a prop, you just have to deal with that.

"I don't know why he [Hayman] hasn't been able to adapt or rather why the coaches aren't picking him.

"I haven't played against him but I have scrummaged against Kubriashvili and he is very strong. The scrum perhaps hasn't gone so well when [Hayman] has played but it isn't always the prop's fault.

"In any case, he's too good a player not to find his feet. There's no doubt he's one of the premier props around."

Still, Hayman is in the gun - up to a point. Boudjellal describes himself as "headstrong". Toulon coach Philippe Saint André is so accustomed to the explosive nature of his president that he says he has a bullet proof vest.

Boudjellal's public blow-ups should be taken with a bucket of salt and he has apologised for insulting his players, although that won't stop him doing it again.

Not all his threats are empty: he may well fire Gavin Henson after a two-game stint. So would he sack Hayman?

The answer is almost definitely no. But not because he doesn't want to. French employment law is strongly on the side of the employee and Boudjellal would have to pay out a vast
chunk of the remaining year of Hayman's contract just to get rid of him.

Hayman is taking time to adapt to French scrummaging but his general play is not in question and he's still no slouch. At 31, he isn't over the hill and hurt pride will be pushing him to prove himself. He may come good at any moment, so Toulon might as well hold on and hope.

Hayman declined to talk to the Herald on Sunday but recently spoke
to Var Matin, Toulon's regional newspaper. While clearly frustrated with
his lack of game time, he told them:
"I haven't been playing particularly badly."

One of Toulon's increasingly impatient supporters responded on the Var Matin website: "No, but you haven't been playing particularly
well, either."